1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of installing glueless floors from a plurality of planks, especially planks comprising a core, backing or substrate, such as a fiberboard, onto which is laminated an abrasion resistant surface. In one aspect of the invention, the edge of the fiberboard is milled to produce an edge profile, which, when cooperatively engaged with a complimentary edge profile on an adjacent panel, can be assembled into a floor, without the need to glue the resulting joint between such adjacent panels. The invention also relates to a tool, preferably a hand tool, which facilitates assembly of the planks into a floor.
2. Description of the Related Art
The assembly of tongue and groove floors planks is generally well known in the art. However, these planks have had to be glued together otherwise affixed to the subfloor to prevent separation of the planks. Furthermore, once laid, the planks cannot be taken up. Recently, there have been a series of method of installation patents for assembling glueless, floating floors (i.e., unglued and unfixed to the subfloor), such as described in a series of U.S. patents, i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,820 to Terbrack et al and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,860,267, 6,023,907 (and their related patents 5,706,621 and 6,182,410) to Tony Pervan, the entire disclosures of each of which are incorporated by reference.
These publications describe a series of manipulations of their panels which include xe2x80x9cangling downxe2x80x9d a new panel into a previous panel either along the long edges or short edges; See, the Terbrack et al and Tony Pervan patents. By the use of a xcex94 play between the cooperating locking members of their floor planks, Tony Pervan was able to displace the floor planks along a joined edge, so as to facilitate the joining of one of the, as yet, unjoined edges while the other edge remained joined. The drawback of the systems of Pervan were numerous, insofar as Pervan utilized an aluminum, other metal or plastic strip, integral or integrated with the floor panel, as one of the members of his locking system. Additionally, the presence of xcex94 play between the locking elements permitted a gap between panels at the joint, facilitating the entry of water at the joint as when a spill on, or washing of, the floor occurs. The gap would also permit the accumulation of dust in the gap resulting in an unsightly seam between adjacent planks. Although, as described in his patent, commercial instructions for installing the planks also required the use of a xe2x80x9ctapping blockxe2x80x9d; i.e., a block designed to interfit with the edge profile and which needed to be hammered to join the planks.
Another flooring system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,486 to Stefan Moriau et al (the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference). Unlike Pervan, Moriau did not have xcex94 play in his joint such that the edges of the panel were under a tension force tending to urge adjacent planks together due in part, to a sloping locking surface and the fact that the tongue and groove locking surfaces of Moriau were milled directly into the core or substrate of the panels.
Still more recently U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,778 has issued to Gxc3x6ran Mxc3xa5rtensson (the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference). Each of the aforementioned Pervan and Moriau patents discloses at least one of the locking elements was present on an extended portion of the panel such that the interlocking of the panels was made outside of the tongue and groove connection. Mxc3xa5rtensson developed ajoint where interlocking in both the vertical direction (relative to a plane of the panels) as well as in the plane of the panels, was achieved by a joint where all the locking elements were within the confines of the shadow of the upper edge of the panel.
However, none of these prior art documents provide a method where an unskilled person, such as the average consumer (sometimes called in the trade xe2x80x9cDIYxe2x80x9d (do-it-yourselfer)), can readily assemble the panels without the aid of an assistant and with average human strength. Moreover, the edges of the panels may cut or abrade the human hand and forcing the edges may cause cracking or other damage to the edges. Thus, there exists a longstanding need to overcome the disadvantages of prior art installation methods.
The current invention overcomes the problems associated with installing the floor planks of the prior art.
These and other embodiments of the invention will become more evident in reading the following description of the invention in connection with the appended drawings.
The present invention relates to a method of installing floor planks for either a glued (e.g., conventional tongue and groove floor) or the glueless style of floor currently in vogue.
The method, in general, requires the laying out and joining of a first row (or at least a portion of the first row) short edge to short edge so as to facilitate the placement of a second (or any succeeding) row.
The second (or any succeeding) row is then assembled by inserting the first plank in the second row (long edge first) into the long edge of a previously laid plank and laying such plank against a tool of the invention placed on the edge of the first plank in the second row so as to prevent the first plank in the second row from laying flat on the subfloor.
The second (and subsequent) planks in the second (or any succeeding) row can then be joined short edge to short edge in any suitable manner, i.e., by angling down one plank relative to another and/or by horizontally displacing the planks.
However, before the second (or any succeeding) plank is permitted to come to rest, a tool of the invention is placed over the edge of the second (or any succeeding) plank so as to prevent the plank from seating flat on the subfloor.
The tool used in the invention is any device which will fit over the edge of the plank and prevent the edge of the plank from contacting the subfloor. The tool can also be used to urge the partially laid plank into engagement with an adjacent plank to join the adjacent edges.